First Be Strong Event Update

Hello from Gijón, SPAIN, 

We appreciate all your prayers and encouragement as last Sunday evening, September 30^th, we gave the first of six BE STRONG spiritual-related presentations which will be given over the next six months.  We will then repeat them creating a continuous cycle, making adjustments as needed.  I´ll explain the program.

As mentioned in our email last week, we have had about 200 people, mostly college and career age, involved with BE STRONG throughout the past year.  Some came for only a week, some have been with us for more than a year.  The majority came to weight train for tackle football, and English classes.  As we work one on one with these young people, we have been able to discuss the Gospel and numerous Bible issues with many of them.

We prepared this first evangelistic session for them and the theme was:  “Spiritual Life - People don´t need religion, nor psychotherapy.”  As spiritually dead beings, we need to be given life through Christ (Ephesians 2:1-9).  Many were positive and said they would come, so we literally prepared for at least 50 visitors. 
We had 4 unsaved folks come, plus some of our church folks.  We were a bit let down, but this is a learning and growing process.  What we learned was:

·         The value of our one on one conversations.  Bigger events and sessions may not be the best.
·         I am very pleased with the presentation content, and believe it will be useful for future sessions.
·         We must be patient, evaluate, and make adjustments as the Lord leads.
·         We will need to work on the publicity of the events.
·         As Scripture is our guide and motivation, prayer saturates all, and, as missionaries, we are far more busy, creative, and enthusiastic than ever before, it is still the Holy Spirit who has to do a work in hearts, and people ultimately need to make genuine decisions for themselves.
·         At least one person expressed how helpful the session was for her.

One thing is for sure:  we will always be careful to not reduce fruit in the ministry to dictating a prayer and just “getting people to come to church.”

Our numbers at Iglesia Bautista Libertad (Liberty Baptist Church) remain small, but we will rejoice in this spiritual fruit:

·         Our whole heart goes in to worshipping and preaching Christ.
·         Carlos and María Ester seem to be walking closer with the Lord than ever before.
·         Mónica has been encouraged.
·         Adina and Susana are more burdened and active to reach their lost friends and loved ones.
·         Alejandro continues through his struggles, not giving up.
·         Folks like Amos, Katy, and others remain faithful.
·         We are busier than ever in the ministry, laying it all out in faith before the Lord.   

We are avoiding dead tradition, ritualism, and “routine-ness” in Christian life and service.

We pray God will continue to bless and strengthen your lives and ministry!

The Contreras Family -

Joseph, Danielle, Isaiah, Andrew, and Michael

Iglesia Bautista Libertad de Gijón

Centro Be Strong

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